Rock stars have
two urges. (No, really, just two.) They want to change the
world, and they want to have fun. And I believe we can't do
one without the other. It's like music -- no one trusts
music that lacks joy. It's the life force in rock and roll
that we love. Especially in serious times, in traumatic
times. We need to dig deep to find joy.

So let me repeat,
we are here tonight because we want to change the world in a
tiny way in our 'hoods or in a grand way in our global
community and in so doing, find our joy. But we can't change
the world without first changing the way we look at the
world. The way you behave in the world depends entirely on
the way you view the world. Weltanschauung is what the
Germans call it.

Californians call it your attitude ...
dude.

My worldview was shaped by rock and roll. Growing up
in the depressed Dublin of the '70s, music was like an alarm
clock for me. It woke me up out of suburban slumber. It made
me believe that my life could have some purpose outside of
10 Cedarwood Road.

It was the time of punk rock. No more
flowers in our hair ... no more flowers, period. I was
weaned on the Clash. The Clash's music was like a public
service announcement ... with guitars.

Three teenage boys
and me, made some music of our own. That was the plan.

But
in the mid '80s my life -- not just my hairdo -- changed in
unexpected ways.

U2 became part of the phenomenon that was
Live Aid, We Are the World, Feed the World ... do you
remember that?

My young wife Ali and I went to Ethiopia to
see for ourselves what was going on. We lived there for a
month, working at a feeding camp and orphanage. The children
had a name for me. They called me 'the Girl with the
Beard.'

Don't ask.

Ali and I found Africa a magical
place -- a place of big skies, big hearts, beautiful people,
royal people. Ethiopia didn't just blow our minds, it opened
our minds.

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